Whether combating malaria through the provision of mosquito nets or building schools and providing basic sanitation, philanthropy is helping transform the developing world. Rich donors are devoting fortunes—many of them earned through computer software, entertainment, and venture capitalism—to defeating poverty and improving lives, supplementing and in some cases surpassing official aid channels.

From billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to Aliko Dangote and George Soros, the titans of capitalism are backing good causes with their cash. By financing new vaccines, championing maternal health, supporting learning, building libraries, or buying up Amazon rain forest to protect the environment, philanthropists are backing innovations and new approaches that are changing lives and building dreams.

The new issue of Finance & Development magazine looks at the world of targeted giving and social entrepreneurship.